The dataset contains the records of vascular plant species occurrences and distribution on Ukrainian kurgans (burial mounds, barrows), located in various zones of steppe vegetation: desert steppe, ...grass steppe, herb-rich grass steppe and forest steppe. Much of the studied kurgans belongs to the territory historically known as the "Wild Fields". Besides the occurrence data, the publication presents a comparison of the floristic richness amongst five microhabitats distinguished on kurgans (top, northern slope, northern bottom, southern slope, and southern bottom) and amongst kurgans located in different steppe zones. The Original publication includes 721 species of vascular plants) within four vegetation zone (desert steppe, grass steppe, herb-rich grass steppe and forest steppe). The report shows also sozological value of kurgans in southern Ukraine, as they play a role of steppe habitat islands in a landscape almost completely transformed to arable land. The obtained flora inventory was analyzed in various aspects. This occurrence dataset is the first public record of species from kurgans in Ukraine.
This is the first occurrence dataset from kurgans in Ukraine. The dataset includes 28,456 occurrences of vascular plants recorded in the years 2004-2009 on Ukrainian kurgans. The dataset includes information about 1446 occurrences of rare species on kurgans (69 species). It contains information on the kurgan flora within four vegetation zone (desert steppe, grass steppe, herb-rich grass steppe and forest steppe) on the area ca. 32000 km
. Of the approximately 450 mounds visited, the ones with the best preserved vegetation cover were selected. For each of 106 investigated mounds, floristic lists from five microhabitats were compiled - 530 lists in total.
The dataset contains the records of vascular plant species occurrences and distribution in old cemeteries (OC) of the Lower Dnipro region (Southern Ukraine). The analysed cemeteries were located in ...different types of landscapes (agricultural, rural and urban) and represent various ways of using their area (currently used, closed, abandoned). The floristic list includes 440 species of vascular plants (437
, 3
. The dataset demonstrates a sozological (Red-lists species) value of old cemeteries in Southern Ukraine. The cemeteries constitute refuges of native, rare and steppe flora and play a role of steppe habitat islands in a landscape almost completely transformed to arable land or urbanised.
This is the first dataset which contains information about flora of old cemeteries in Lower Dnipro region (Southern Ukraine). The dataset comprises 2118 occurrences of vascular plants (440 species) recorded in the years 2008-2021 in 13 old cemeteries of the Lower Dnipro region. The dataset includes information about 85 occurrences of rare species (23 species
, 3
) and 652 occurrences of 117 steppe species.
This work is a long-term outcome of an international Ukrainian-Polish teamwork, aiming to assess the role of ancient settlements for steppe conservation and protection. The dataset contains ...georeferenced occurrences of vascular plant species on 18 ancient settlements (Lower Dnipro, southern Ukraine), collected during the 2015-2020 period. Additionally, to the total species list, the publication presents the taxonomic coverage (according to GBIF Backbone Taxonomy), the frequency classes of occurrences of the total taxa and the floristic differences amongst studied sites. The report also shows the high sozological value of the studied ancient settlements, the high levels of vascular plant species richness and the various means of the plant species protection (according to the Bern Convention, the Red Data Book of Ukraine and regional Red Lists).
This work provides the first occurrence dataset from ancient settlements in Ukraine. The dataset includes 3,210 occurrences of vascular plants recorded during the study period of 2015-2020 conducted in the Lower Dnipro region. As ancient settlements were generally considered as steppe refuges, great attention was paid to the native steppe species, as well as to the rare components of the flora. The dataset includes 1,525 occurrences of steppe species and 87 occurrences of rare species, respectively. The dataset could be useful for further research of ancient settlements` floristic richness, but also analyses and comparison with other objects of cultural origin (e.g. kurgans, hillforts, old cemeteries, forgotten parks, sacred groves etc.).
The transformations of cultural landscapes are related to and result from environmental conditions and human impacts. The article describes the main directions of land cover changes in the vicinity ...of Pińczów in the years 1839–2000. The identified land use patterns were shown and discussed against the background of natural landscape characteristics, and anthropogenic influences associated with socio-political and economic situation of the region in the analyzed period.
•Post-WWII forced displacement caused major forest increase in Polish Carpathians.•115k of 181k (63%) of forest increase until 1970 due to displacement.•Land-use regime switched from agricultural to ...forest-dominated stable state.•Displacement caused more forest increase than post-socialist abandonment.•Displacement areas now one of the largest wilderness areas in Central Europe.
Armed conflicts and major political changes can result in the forced displacement of thousands of people and may have substantial effects on the environment. However, it is difficult to predict and mitigate long-term consequences of such displacements, especially when they trigger abrupt land-use changes that result in a regime shift of the land-use system. Our main goal was to determine the effects of post-WWII forced displacements on long-term landscape dynamics in the Polish Carpathians. After World War II, 630,000 Ukrainians were forcibly displaced from southeastern Poland, leading to permanent depopulation of mountain borderlands. We conducted a village-level analysis of forest area change across the Polish Carpathians (1685 villages/cadastral communities), and a detailed analyses of landscape change and land-cover trajectories in two highly depopulated test sites. Our source data were pre-war (1850s–1860s and 1930s) and post-war (1970s and 2010s) census data and topographic maps. We found a substantial forest area increase after displacements, far outpacing the widely reported forest increase due to the collapse of socialism in early 1990s, and a striking landscape simplification. Astonishingly, almost two thirds of the post-war (1930s–1970s) forest area increase in the entire Polish Carpathians (115,000 ha out of 181,000 ha) was due to the forced displacements. The land-use regimes shifted from being agriculturally-dominated to being forest-dominated, and approached a stable alternative state. As a result, a once densely populated rural region has become one of the largest ‘wilderness’ areas in Central Europe, with vast areas void of human settlements and resurgent wildlife populations. This highlights that forced displacements, which are common during and after armed conflicts, can have substantial and long-lasting effects on land use.
Good understanding of relations between historical land cover changes and accompanying environmental components should be a starting point for landscape modelling and forecasting its future patterns. ...Analysis presented here focuses on the relationships between chosen environmental conditions and agricultural land cover changes in the period of over 150 years. The study area consisted of fragments of Nidziańska Basin and South Pomeranian Lake District macroregions. The land cover data was derived from a number of archival and contemporary topographical maps. Long-term changes of land cover were then related to underlying landscape elements (geological deposits and morphometric landforms). With the help of canonical analysis major correlations were identified and described.
•LiDAR confirmed to be an adequate tool by which to map networks of logging roads under the tree canopy.•The density of logging roads in the Carpathians is among the highest reported in the ...literature.•Due to skidding, 5% of the forest analysed has had its surface topography altered.•Skidding now appears to be a bottleneck of sustainable forest management in the Carpathians.•Actions aimed at mapping and preserving the cultural heritage of forests are needed urgently.
The aim of the research was to determine the scale and forms of logging road impacts on the natural environment and residual cultural heritage of Ruthenian Highlanders that characterise the Polish part of the north-eastern Carpathians. To this end, we used LiDAR-derived DEM to detect and map forest roads and skid trails, and to estimate road density, in 60 forest divisions sampled at random from among the 2639km2 of forest managed in the above region by the State Forests National Forest Holding. The determined road network was then validated by GPS ground control. Supplementary, detailed LiDAR data were used to detect features of the past cultural landscape, and to determine the interference in that due to contemporary logging roads. Overall skidder traffic was estimated on the basis of a thorough analysis of State Forests documents, including legal acts, guidelines, management plans, detailed databases and maps of planned cuts.
LiDAR data proved to be an adequate tool in the mapping of the network of logging roads present under the tree canopy, although it slightly underestimates road density in a densely vegetated, post-landslide topography. Our LiDAR-assessed density of Carpathian logging roads (at 108.5–140.7mha−1, including skid trails) is nevertheless among the highest reported in the literature, and one that far exceeds recommended values. Spatial pattern analysis further revealed the unfavourable phenomenon of multiple parallel roads forming contiguous areas of disturbed soil and constituting dispersal paths for invasive plants. Many examples of cultural remains being run over and destroyed by skidders could also be reported.
The observed process of log extraction is one of the least sustainable aspects to forest management in the Carpathians, and our results emphasise very clearly the need for rules to support the preservation of cultural heritage in forested areas, as well as improved tools by which skidding practices can be monitored.
The cessation of most human activities resulting from post‐World War II expulsions and forced displacements in Central Europe triggered massive land cover transformation in mountainous areas. ...However, many pre‐War traces of past landscapes have survived—imprinted in microtopography—in permanently abandoned villages. Currently, they constitute unique cultural heritage of communities no longer in existence. Our main goal was therefore to reconstruct a lost cultural landscape of mountain villages abandoned after World War II (WWII). The case study area comprised three such villages located in southern Poland, two in the Carpathians and one in the Sudetes. We used the national airborne light detection and ranging (LiDAR) dataset combined with archival cadastral maps and field survey to detect man‐made microtopographic features related to past boundaries, road network, agriculture and buildings and to interpret them in the landscape context. We demonstrated that the pre‐War human footprint left in relief was shaped largely by past landownership divisions, land use and environmental constraints (related to lithology, soils and topography). Our secondary goal was to assess the value and application opportunities of LiDAR in reconstructing past landscapes. We showed that 38–70% of non‐natural parcel boundaries and 65–79% of roads marked on mid‐19th‐century cadastral maps are still detectable using LiDAR. Therefore, we argue that the past landscape pattern, originating in late Middle Ages and subsequently transformed prior to WWII, remains well preserved in the relief and that LiDAR is an effective tool to reconstruct a past landscape of mountain villages abandoned after WWII. We also confirmed that customized LiDAR visualizations are more informative than ready‐to‐use shaded digital elevation models (DEMs), in particular when integrated with cadastral and field‐based data. We conclude that the greatest advantage of LiDAR is the capacity to provide a landscape context for isolated traces of past human activity, allowing for the reconstruction of entire spatial patterns and interrelationships developed by past societies.
Recently, marginal lands have been attracting attention as areas of high cultural and natural value that are undergoing profound, uncontrolled transformations. These changes are seen as a threat to ...the cohesion and identity of existing landscapes. However, ongoing processes are often difficult to interpret and evaluate without a long-term historical perspective. Here, we focused on understanding the long-term landscape dynamics in the depopulated and economically marginalized Wiar River basin, where 87% of inhabitants were displaced after World War II. A detailed, spatially explicit land-cover analysis based on eight series of topographic data (dating from 1780 to 2017), in line with the review of archival sources and literature, allowed us for identification of patterns and drivers of change. We linked the driving forces and the resulting landscape properties to four distinct historical periods (i.e. pre-industrial, industrial, socialist, and free-market). We demonstrated how the landscape of 25 villages, dominated for centuries by open farmland, shifted after WWII into extensively forested, and that not all regions in Europe follow the pattern of increasing rate of land-cover change.
Civilizations, including ancient ones, have shaped global ecosystems in many ways through coevolution of landscapes and humans. However, the cultural legacies of ancient and lost civilizations are ...rarely considered in the conservation of the Eurasian steppe biome. We used a data set containing more than 1000 records on localities, land cover, protection status, and cultural values related to ancient steppic burial mounds (kurgans); we evaluated how these iconic and widespread landmarks can contribute to grassland conservation in the Eurasian steppes, which is one of the most endangered biomes on Earth. Using Bayesian logistic generalized regressions and proportional odds logistic regressions, we examined the potential of mounds to preserve grasslands in landscapes with different levels of land‐use transformation. We also compared the conservation potential of mounds inside and outside protected areas and assessed whether local cultural values support the maintenance of grasslands on them. Kurgans were of great importance in preserving grasslands in transformed landscapes outside protected areas, where they sometimes acted as habitat islands that contributed to habitat conservation and improved habitat connectivity. In addition to steep slopes hindering ploughing, when mounds had cultural value for local communities, the probability of grassland occurrence on kurgans almost doubled. Because the estimated number of steppic mounds is about 600,000 and similar historical features exist on all continents, our results may be applicable at a global level. Our results also suggested that an integrative socioecological approach in conservation might support the positive synergistic effects of conservation, landscape, and cultural values.
Contribución de los valores culturales para la conservación esteparia en los antiguos montículos funerarios de Eurasia
Resumen
Las civilizaciones modernas y antiguas han moldeado de muchas maneras los ecosistemas globales mediante la coevolución del paisaje y la humanidad. Sin embargo, pocas veces se considera el legado cultural de las civilizaciones perdidas o antiguas para la conservación del bioma de la estepa euroasiática. Usamos un conjunto de datos que contiene más de 1,000 registros de las localidades, cobertura del suelo, estado de protección y valores culturales relacionados con los antiguos montículos funerarios de esta estepa (kurgans). Después analizamos cómo estos símbolos icónicos y distribuidos extensamente pueden contribuir a la conservación de los pastizales en la estepa euroasiática, uno de los biomas en mayor peligro de extinción. Analizamos el potencial de conservación de los montículos en paisajes con diferentes niveles de transformación en el uso de suelo mediante regresiones logísticas generalizadas bayesianas y regresiones logísticas de probabilidades proporcionales. También comparamos el potencial de conservación de los montículos dentro y fuera de las áreas protegidas y evaluamos si los valores culturales locales conservan los pastizales dentro de estas mismas áreas. Los kurgans fueron de gran importancia para la conservación de los pastizales en los paisajes transformados ubicados fuera de las áreas protegidas, en donde llegaron a fungir como hábitats aislados que contribuyeron a la conservación y conectividad del hábitat. Además de que las pendientes pronunciadas impiden el arado, cuando los montículos contaban con valor cultural para las comunidades locales, la probabilidad de que el pastizal se ubicara sobre un kurgan casi se duplicó. Ya que se estima que el número de montículos esteparios ronda los 6,000 y que rasgos históricos similares existen en todos los continentes, nuestros resultados pueden aplicarse a nivel global. Nuestros resultados también sugieren que una estrategia socio‐ecológica integradora para la conservación podría respaldar los efectos sinérgicos positivos de la conservación, el paisaje y los valores culturales.
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